Grants extended for STEM graduate programs that prepare students from underrepresented groups to succeed.
With renewed federal funding, Brown University faculty will extend two initiatives built to encourage the success of students historically underrepresented in STEM graduate programs and prepare them for careers in the sciences: the Initiative to Maximize Student Development and the Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program.
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health has awarded both programs renewed funding for the next five years. The grants for IMSD and PREP are $3.3 million and $1.6 million, respectively.
The two separate programs share similar goals, says Andrew Campbell, PhD, who co-leads both IMSD and PREP at Brown: increasing diversity among scientists earning PhDs, and giving them the tools to succeed in biomedical and behavioral sciences.
“A wide diversity of experiences and perspectives among scientists is essential for problem-solving, for moving science forward, and for creating opportunities for the kinds of breakthroughs that make a difference in people’s lives,” says Campbell, who served for six years as dean of Brown’s Graduate School before returning to research and teaching as a professor of medical science. “Although IMSD is an established program now in its second decade and PREP is just entering its second five-year cycle, the renewals by NIH signal great confidence in the work we are doing here at Brown to expand diversity among the sciences.”
Campbell says the success of the programs in building and supporting a more diverse community of scientific scholars is illustrative of the University’s broader commitment through its campus-wide Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan and diversity and inclusion initiatives at the Graduate School.
“With IMSD and PREP, we’re establishing a suite of pathway programs at Brown that are achieving our shared vision for diversity, academic excellence, and ultimately workforce change,” Campbell says.
